Ward out against Hurricanes

Forward Joel Ward will miss tonight’s game against Carolina with a wrist injury, so recent recall Ben Guite will be in the lineup against the Hurricanes.

Ward did participate in the morning skate and the injury isn’t believed to be too serious. Preds coach Barry Trotz believes Ward will be back in the lineup Saturday against Anaheim.

Trotz said Guite, who’s posted eight points in his last six games at Milwaukee, is playing better now than when he began the season on the Nashville roster.

“He’s been playing really quite well,’’ Trotz said. “He’s had some nagging injuries that probably prevented him from having success early. He played through them like a warrior. One thing (Milwaukee coach Lane Lambert) said was that even through the nagging injuries, he was able to contribute. Then he got healthy and really upped his level in his game. That’s really been noticeable.’’

Guite said he’s feeling much better about his game as well.

“At the beginning of the year, I had a few injuries slowing me down,’’ Guite said. “They’ve finally healed up and I feel good physically. That helps a lot mentally, when you feel good physically. So it’s all falling into place.’’

Other developments from the morning skate:

It still looks like forward Martin Erat will be back in the lineup Saturday against Anaheim. He will miss his fourth straight game with a knee injury tonight. Erat participated in the morning skate and said the knee continues to feel better.

Goalie Pekka Rinne will be debuting new pads when he starts against the Hurricanes tonight. He’s broken them in over the course of the last four practices. The process of breaking in pads used to take goalies much longer than that, but new equipment makes it easier. “Nowadays all the stuff is almost game-ready, so you don’t have to do any magic tricks to make them softer,’’ Rinne said. “You used to do things like throw them in the steam room and stuff, just to break them down.’’

Forward Jerred Smithson was skating on his own before the team took the ice for the morning skate. He had a hockey stick attached to the cast he was wearing on his broken left hand, which is the closest he’ll come to gripping the stick for a bit.